Skullwinder

Creature — Snake

Deathtouch (Any amount of damage this deals to a creature is enough to destroy it.)

When Skullwinder enters the battlefield, return target card from your graveyard to your hand, then choose an opponent. That player returns a card from their graveyard to their hand.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (46)

Lycheex on Lycheex

1 month ago

Hi beebles_elbow, thanks for the comment.

I completely agree with your take that the strength of the deck is the turn 1 win likelihood, however I don't want to be content with defeating non-blue players. The fact that the deck doesn't do numbers is because the "typical" lists don't work in the current Legacy meta. Most (all?) storm decks forgo some explosiveness to run some protection. I hope to find the right build that allows The Spanish Inquisition to do so as well. It's obviously easier said than done.

I think that I would've agreed with your take before, but the inclusion of Grief really changed my perspective. It's an incredible card for the deck as it provides a ton of mana in combination with Culling the Weak and Burnt Offering and you also happen to be able to discard a card from your opponents hand. If we could run 2-4 extra interactive cards, it could really elevate the deck. Again, finding the right build is proving to be a challenge.

I do partially agree with your take that Aeve, Progenitor Ooze is not good. While I don't think it's actively bad, it falls into a category of cards that I've tried before that are serviceable tech cards. And I would label Aeve as the best of these tech cards. I would include Skullwinder in the category as well. These cards are only good in certain situations, but mostly tend to be dead draws. I would like to replace these cards and run better cards, but I haven't been able to find.

I've actually recently built a new version of the deck called The Burning Inquition in which I tried to alleviate this exact problem. I feel that it has potential, here's a link if you're interested: The Burning Inquisition.

Anyways, that's my 2 cents. I just want to try and make the best as it can be, but I could be completely wrong about my takes.

beebles_elbow on Lycheex

1 month ago

Personally I see no value in hedging your bets against Force of Will or counterspells when brewing SI, particularly when it is unlikely your answers will be available when you need them and work _exactly _the way you want them to. The strength of the deck is the turn 1 win likelihood, otherwise you'd better be served with simply a different storm deck if you want consistency and resiliency. Why dilute your deck with interactive spells that can clutter up your lines of play? Perhaps just being content with defeating non-blue players and the occasional blue player is enough?

Anyway, my two cents for the psychology.

My actual constructive criticism is Aeve not good, you really need the right combo of mana to make work being as expensive as it is. And of course you can't Pact for it so it basically sits as a dead card until you manually draw it, or intuition for it off of double LED. Also being a critter doesn't guarantee a win either so its a pretty heavy investment for that guy that doesn't immediately win the game. Skullwinder might be more useful in its place.

JAEK on Shrine on you crazy diamond

1 month ago

Thank you for your comment and suggestions mtgplayer903, I've got an explanation for a few of my choices here:

1. Birds of Paradise over Ornithopter of Paradise is purely a preference of mine. I adore BoP and it finds its way into all multi-colour decks that I make. OoP is a great choice too and budget friendly, but I went with the birds this time round.
2. Eternal Witness is just a much better card than Skullwinder if I don't have to give my opponent the recursion but can get it myself with E-Wit then it's a no brainer for me personally.
3. Riftsweeper is in the deck to retrieve Maze's End for me. I have had people blow up Maze's End a few times on me and then Bojuka Bog my graveyard, so I needed a way to make sure I could get it back from exile. Admittedly, Rift does need some support from tutors to make it properly effective at this.
4. Nature's Claim vs Assassin's Trophy is a great suggestion. I'm not sure I have an A'sT to hand, but I will check and update that.
5. Vindicate is in over Beast Within because I already run Generous Gift and I find that I don't really like giving my opponents a 3/3 beater to come back at me with. The sorc speed hasn't really bothered me yet, but maybe BW will come back eventually after more playtesting.
6. Explore is dirt cheap and Exploration is a little pricey. I know it just got a reprint and I am hoping to get one soon, once I do it will be back in the list. I do use Exploration on MTGO though.
7. Tolaria West is a great tutor for Maze's End, Maze of Ith and Reliquary Tower depending on what I need from it. I find that a card like Ash Barrens is nice, but I don't think it's quite right for my list as it stands.
8. Gatecreeper Vine is out of the list now and Open the Gates is just a neat lil gate tutor so it'll stay in as the Gates theme is key to what I like about this deck.

Headers13 on The deck of power and poison

1 month ago

Cheap creatures with deathtouch:

Acidic Slime Ambush Viper Deathbloom Gardener Fang of Shigeki Gnarlwood Dryad Gorgon Flail Greater Basilisk Heir of the Wilds Ichorspit Basilisk Kessig Recluse Mirkwood Spider Moss Viper Narnam Renegade Oakhame Adversary Skullwinder Tajuru Blightblade Thornweald Archer Turntimber Basilisk Underdark Basilisk

Creatures with infect/toxic

Blight Mamba Core Prowler Corpse Cur Cystbearer Ichorclaw Myr Paladin of Predation Plague Myr Rot Wolf Spinebiter Tyrranax Atrocity Venomous Brutalizer Viridian Corrupter Carrion Call

Proliferate:

Adaptive Sporesinger Cankerbloom Carnivorous Canopy Copper Longlegs Courage in Crisis Evolution Sage Expand the Sphere Smell Fear Thirsting Roots Unnatural Restoration Urban Daggertooth

Equipment:

Grafted Exoskeleton Prosthetic Injector Swiftfoot Boots Fireshrieker Bladed Pinions Chariot of Victory Jousting Lance No-Dachi Peregrine Mask Sharpened Pitchfork Surestrike Trident Viridian Claw Livewire Lash Pathway Arrows Rogue's Gloves Sorcerer's Wand Thornbite Staff Viridian Longbow*

Instant kill:

Aggressive Instinct Ambuscade Animist's Might Bite Down Clear Shot Cosmic Hunger Devouring Tendrils Halana, Kessig Ranger Infectious Bite Nature's Way Rabid Bite Spinning Wheel Kick

Unblockable:

Access Tunnel Rogue's Passage Executioner's Hood Prowler's Helm Skeleton Key Wedding Invitation Whispersilk Cloak

DPhoenix on Dina, Soul Steeper

3 months ago

Corpse Connoisseur vs Vile Entomber

Fleshbag Marauder vs Demon's Disciple

Merciless Executioner vs Plaguecrafter

Haywire Mite

Exotic Orchard vs Twilight Mire

-1 Misty Rainforest +1 Prismatic Vista

-1 Mana Confluence +1 Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

-1 Cabal Coffers +1 Boseiju, Who Endures

Skullwinder vs Timeless Witness or Treasured Find

-1 Mausoleum Secrets +1 either Grim Tutor or Vampiric Tutor

Jarad's Orders vs Final Parting

Twilight's Call vs Living Death

Moonsilver Key vs Dig Up

Maybe

Ash Barrens; Castle Locthwain; Necromancy; Assassin's Trophy; Imp's Mischief; Tamiyo's Safekeeping; Sylvan Library

Licecolony on Tokens for Mr. Darlin'! +

5 months ago

Arachnogenesis, Reclamation Sage, Skullwinder?

BishopAtavist on Abzan Graveyard Recursion Help

1 year ago

seshiro_of_the_orochi I completely forgot that Shigeki, Jukai Visionary had that ability! I'll definitely be slotting him in. Spring-Leaf Avenger seems like a really cool card too! I am already running Gravebreaker Lamia and she's been great in the deck. I have a Skullwinder or two that I picked up in a Baldur's gate draft. I've only hesitated with that one because I don't like giving my opponents their choice of cards as well. I guess I could always save it until I lay down a Bojuka Bog though haha

TheOfficialCreator, I am currently trying to figure out what to cut to slot in Nyx Weaver. Refining deck lists is definitely the hardest part of deck building.

These are all super helpful suggestions. Thank you all!

seshiro_of_the_orochi on Abzan Graveyard Recursion Help

1 year ago

Loosing non-creatures is a usual topic with these strategies. One way around it is to play as few of those card as possible. As you're asking for recursion ideas, Timeless Witness is basically a second E-Wit, and Skullwinder is also not far off. A card I really like is Spring-Leaf Avenger, and bouncing an attacking Nethroi to mutate out again seems pretty useful. What's more, how about Shigeki, Jukai Visionary? He seems to do everything you wish for, and he even has a power small enough so you can abuse him with Nethroi.